La Keshia Drahos
Harrington/Huntington
English 101 OL
04 March 2009
Technology or old fashion traditions?

Technology is beginning to rob children of many possible wonderful childhood memories and family bonding moments that take place through family traditions. Many parents rely on technology to teach their children things like colors or numbers and even animals. Just look at all the so called “smart toys” for kids. Parents will buy a toy in a heartbeat if it says it will teach their kids to read or learn their colors. Whatever happened to taking an hour or two out of the day to teach a child their colors and numbers? This tradition not only gives a child a head start on some of the things needed to succeed in early education but it also provides perfect family bonding time.

I remember when I was young and how my mom used to teach me my ABC’s and how to spell. She brought a bunch of magnets for the refrigerator. She used to arrange the letters into a word and help me spell it out first by letters. Then she would have me sound it out like three times in a row. She would then wait for about five to ten minutes and ask me what the word was and how it was spelled. When I got the word right, I got a cookie and the sense of accomplishment. I loved the time I got to spend with my mommy learning my ABC’s. I looked forward to it every day, and I loved showing her the words I knew when we went out to the store etc... My mom was teaching things I needed to know while building a strong bond between us.

Sadly enough many kids from this generation will not even be able to imagine their parents doing such a thing with them, these are just some of the memories that young kids now days will more than likely never experience because parents are letting technology raise their children. The sad part is that these are the kind of memories that they would cherish for a lifetime and nine time out of ten pass down to their children. As I cherished the memory of learning my ABC”s with my mother, I plan to pass the same memory down to my children. What is worse is the fact that the parents are letting this happen by not making the kids spend quality time as a family.

For a family who has multiple children of various ages these unfair to all the kids. Because the younger kids do not get to have the memories of the time they spent with their family doing certain traditions like learning to cook, sew, or learning their ABC’s, because they wrapped in a world of technology. As for the older kids of the family, they do not have that connection with the younger kids as far as family traditions. There is a passage in the article “Thoroughly Modern Dining” that I really liked, mainly because it shows the importance of family bonding for families. Pillsbury stated in this passage “my older brother continually tells me that we grew up with different parents in the same house. His memories of those times vary widely from mine. It is not important whose memory might be more accurate, or whether either is accurate for that matter. The point is that every single day we did share time together that built a bond between us which lasted a lifetime of living on opposite sides of the nation and leading quite different lives.” (Pillsbury) Even though this article is talking about families going out to eat more instead of cooking at home its’ stills show us the importance of family traditions.

Technology is taking over our lives more and more every day. Between the computers, iPods, mp3 players, video games, and the television most of us no longer spend much time bonding with our families. It seems like kids would rather sit in their rooms than participate in a family night or family trip to the park. However, I do not think that technology is all the blame for traditions dying off slowly but surely. Parents seem to be ok with their kids spending more time in their rooms on the computer or listening to their iPod then them spending time with them. They use technology as a quick fix to get the kids out of their hair. For an example, many mothers tend to pop in a video when their child starts to cry or get too active for their liking. Technology is a great help but just like anything else too much can be a harmful thing and we need a good balance of technology and old fashion ways. Parents need to remember what it was like to have family traditions and bonding time.